Guest Post: Lindsay - an Update

You may recall a recent guest post written by my friend Lindsay from A Log of My Life. Well, she recently sent me a Facebook message with the following update from her visit with Gretchen. If you need a recap, read Lindsay's guest post here.

I got to meet Gretchen whom I wrote about in the blog post! She is so, so great, and I like her and her family and friends very much. So many people at her school and church were saying, "And you met through Gretchen's BLOG??" It was so much fun.

Also! I mentioned to Gretchen that I'd written about her, and she said, "Yeah, on Cardigans and Old Watches, right? A girl actually found me through that blog and asked if she could support the feeding sites!" I was so happy to hear that! Way to go, Jesus and Ashley and everyone!

Really, interacting with Gretchen's sphere was my favorite part of my trip. Second place goes to wandering around a super rural residential area near the small airport we transferred at. (The locals kept staring at me and my friend and asking where we were going.) (And third place goes to the mangoes and buko shakes. Buko is similar to coconut, but better.) But yeah, Gretchen's sphere was my favorite, and it all made me so happy, and I wanted to share this with you!

The end!

-Lindsay

Thanks, Lindsay, for sharing! And thanks so much to whoever donated to the feeding sites! You guys are so awesome! 

Love,
Scout

Guest Post: Kelly on Contentment

Another guest post! I'd like you guys to meet my friend, Kelly Davie, from school. Kelly is super smart - she knows, what is it? Greek and Hebrew or something ridiculous like that. She's cool and always shares funny stories about cooking, homemaking, jewelry making, and being married. Check out her blog here.

Hi there, I'm Kelly.

I'm married to Colton.

Yowza, right?
In July of 2011 we had a beautiful, musical, joyful wedding in Alabama.

In August we shot a short film in Tennessee,

Then packed our bags and headed to Hollywood!
If you look really closely between Colton and his best friend Bryce, you can see the Hollywood sign.

We like it here - we've been in LA for a little over a year. It seems crazy to say that. Somehow, it seems like we've been here forever, but it also seems like we just got here. Do you know what I mean? 

Colton works as a Cinematographer and Camera Assistant. His schedule is pretty random, but that means that he's at home most of the time with me! He's actually within an arm's reach as I type this. I love it. When he's working, though, it's pretty intense. That's how the movie biz works. For example, last year he had a pretty slow month - he hadn't worked but a few days. Then he got a call one night from a production company saying, "Can you fly to the Bahamas tomorrow morning?" "Uh, okay!" he said. So he ended up flying out within 12 hours of the phone call, and was gone for about two weeks. (Near the end of the shoot the whole production ended up having to flee the country in private planes to avoid arrest, but that's another story!)

My schedule is much more steady. I'm part housewife, part jewelry maker. (You can see my etsy shop here). My days are spent washing dishes, cooking, doing the laundry, and trying desperately to make our apartment look presentable. (I'm a very messy person by nature, and most days it's really hard to fight that!)

I think it's very important to find peace wherever you're at.

Sometimes I find myself getting antsy or cabin fever-y. I think that's mainly because I *feel* like I'm not doing anything important. I'm not earning money. I've never actually had a "real" job. I can't even seem to keep up with the housework, even though there are so many working moms who can raise three kids, work part or full time, maintain sparkling kitchen counters, and even go to the gym a few times a week. That's not me!

But here's the thing. What I do IS important. My husband needs me. He might not have even lasted in LA without me here... it can be a very lonely city. I can cook up a storm. I can brighten the days of my neighbors and the mailman and the cashiers at the grocery store with my smile and a few kind words. I can host community group at our apartment and put my domestic skills to use. I can paint pictures for my friends. I can listen to Colton if he's had a bad day at work and help him unload grip equipment from the car.

And at the end of the day, I can look forward to spending time with my sweet husband, watching a movie, eating cookies, and making him laugh by angrily shaking my fist at the tv when I lose another MarioKart race.

And that's a very, very good thing. I am blessed to be where I am, to be doing what I do.

So if you ever feel discouraged, be your own cheerleader and remember that the world wouldn't be the same without you in it! You were made to be here.

Kelly's blog.
Kelly's Etsy shop.
More of Kelly's beautiful wedding photos (you know you want to).

Love,
Scout

What's In My Bag

Hey, guys! I'm guest posting today on The Dessert First Way. It's a "what's in your bag" post. Check it out here!

Love,

Scout

Guest Post: Lindsay on Internet Friends

Hey, guys! This post is by my friend, Lindsay. Everyone say, "Hello, Lindsay!" Lindsay and I met in college. We didn't really become friends until after that, but she did let me borrow her copy of The Village once! And that definitely got her good marks in my book. Lindsay blogs over at A Log of My Life where she shares stories from her life in Korea (read my favorite story here). I asked her to guest post for me - just for kicks and giggles - and this is what she wanted to share. I hope you like it!

(Lindsay is the one on the left, in case you weren't sure).

Hello! My name is Lindsay. I live in Seoul, Korea where I teach little children English. I try to get them to sing and dance along with me as much as possible, but sometimes they look at me like I’m crazy. I love playing music and the color green, and I think sticky rice goes with everything. I’m a friend of Scout’s from college (more on that later), and I’m so humbled and pleased to get to write for her blog! Thanks for the opportunity, friend!

---

I met Scout a long time ago in college, but we didn’t have much chance to get to know each other until we started following one other’s blogs long after our meeting. With friendships being harder to come by outside of school, I’m especially thankful and partial to these special ones the internet brings. They may be few and far between, but they’re so much fun. Also, because I live in Korea now, I’m 12 time zones away from many of my favorite people, so I’ve come to rely on technology for nearly all of my relationships. In the midst of this reality, I have some happy stories to share! Two new friendships have sprung up in quirky ways recently, and I want to tell you about them.

The first started on facebook. It might be a little complicated at first, but stick with me as I explain. I was on my friend Rey’s facebook page when I saw a picture of one of his friends. This girl was really pretty, so I clicked on her profile. (Don’t judge: I’m pretty sure you’ve done it before, too.) From her profile, I put this girl’s pretty name, Roxanne, with her pretty face. I saw that she also lived in Korea, and I thought that was cool, but then I went about my business. A few days later, she popped up on my screen again while I was on a completely different site.

The coincidence caught my attention, and I went back to Roxanne’s facebook page. This time, I noticed that she lived in Busan, a Korean city I would be visiting in a few weeks. I decided to drop her a message about Busan and ask if she had any tips for where to eat and such. She sent me a friend request, answered my questions, and invited me to her church!

I was able to go to church there in Busan, and I was delighted when I saw Roxanne walk in and sit behind me. Now, it makes me very, very happy when I get to hug someone when I first meet them. It means there’s a little history there, a lot of love, or both. Both things were here in that moment.

Roxanne has now moved to her home country, but we keep in touch and still follow each other’s pictures and adventures. Yay!

The second friendship also started online. I’m taking a short trip to Boracay in the Philippines soon, and I’ve been researching Google for whatever local information I can find. (I admit. Again, I wanted ideas on where to get good food.) Boracay is a very small area, but I was surprised to find only one blog that looked promising. Thankfully, this one blog stumble turned into something awesome.

Gretchen blogs about her family, their adventures, and being a missionary on Boracay. She had a hard-to-read story about needing to shut down her organization’s food kitchen due to lack of funds. I wiped away a few tears at the end of reading her post, and then I pounced onto the comment thread. I all but blasted her with “Hello, my name is Lindsay! I want to help you! I’m coming for a visit! Here’s my Email! Here’s my blog address! P.s. I’m not a creeper!”

Surprisingly, she wasn’t weirded out by my exuberance! In fact, we’ve exchanged quite a few emails by this point. Gretchen’s said she will show me around the island, and I’ve asked if I can do or bring her anything special. As per her request, she’ll soon be getting a care package of Kraft mac and cheese, cloth band-aids, and hopefully some simple English books for her school. I can’t wait to give the package to her with a hug and a really big smile.

It’s amazing to me that I would have never known these girls without the good things of the web. Friendships born online can be sweet and special even if they never blend with real life, but I’m very happy that I will have physically met and hugged both of these girls. Thank you, internet!

Check out Lindsay's blog here. Check out Gretchen's blog here.

Love,
Scout